I found the following on a previous post and was wondering where these 3 positions are in relationship to a WorkPrinter XP.
.There are three places on the diameter of the timing disk that can give you no smear but only one that will lock in and have no pulldown blurs forever. The other two timing positions will drift in and out of phase.
Having just acquired a Canon XM2 camera I adjusted the timing disc and all looked OK for a couple of transfers then I started to get a few smeared frames. It may appear I have not chosen the best spot but having gone round in a complete circle I am now confused.
The problem is that you can get this same timing error under several of conditions: 1) You might have the timing set wrong. 2) You might have the timing set right but your drive isn't keeping up 3) You might have the timing set wrong and also your drive isn't keeping up.
Are you capturing to an internal Raid-0 drive array with a separate system drive? That is really the only way you can be sure of getting a consistent transfer free of pulldown blur. Also, you must check for pulldown blur on an interlaced display, which means capturing a file and then playing it back on a regular interlaced television. This is because most PC displays will drop one field of an interlaced frame to prevent the Venetian blind effect of looking at an interlaced frame on a progressive display. So if you have pulldown blur on the field that's being dropped, you will never know it until you go to watch the clip on an interlaced display which shows both fields. So, basically, if you see pulldown blur, then you have a pulldown blur. But the absence of visible pulldown blur on a PC monitor doesn't mean you don't have any; it only means you don't see any.
Yes I am using a separate Raid 0-drive array as recommended. I'm using an USB mouse with no other mouse or USB devices. I've also stopped a lot of services from running and the CPU usage is minimal.
When I first set the timing I pushed the captured footage back through the camera and viewed it on a TV set and it seemed OK. The day after I started getting the odd blurred frame.
When I put the AVI file on the Sony Vegas timeline I can see the odd blurred frame, which I can remove but it's time consuming if there are lot's of single instances.
I was interested in where the 3 possible timing points are as I could only seem to find one where I have it now that's any where near.
There really isn't a "start" or "normal" position for the timing disc because every camera/computer combination is different. What I can tell you is that there are really only two spots on the timing disc that will give proper results and only one of those will be consistent and the other will come and go. So, the only real way to do this is to pick a direction and start moving the disk in very small increments and do a test capture, watch it, then repeat. One of the two spots is the "faux" spot which, when you come to it, you will find that clear captures do not last and the tiniest increments either direction will cause massive pulldown blur. The only real value in finding this position is that, historically, the "real" position is often about 180 degrees across from that "faux" position. Not always but often. Again, you will just have to do tests until you have it locked in. Other things to look for is that your Raid-0 is internal and not external, that it is a Raid-0 and not a Raid-1, and that your drive isn't more than about 50% full and isn't fragmented. Also, make sure that your camera is set to as high a shutter speed as a good exposure will allow and that your PC has all background processes, especially antivirus, turned off during capture. The sync mouse can be a USB or a PS2 but it can't be a PS2 in a USB adapter. That will never work consistently.
Thanks for the in depth reply. I will check the internal Raid 0 for capacity and defrag if necessary. I have removed McAfee from the machine as it was a problem and I have shut down as many services down as necessary. No other USB devices are connected.
I'll recheck the timing as suggested.
One other point I would like your opinion on is that the USB mouse is plugged into the PS2 port with an adaptor, I suppose that is not the problem or is it.
Geoff Rogers wrote:
One other point I would like your opinion on is that the USB mouse is plugged into the PS2 port with an adaptor, I suppose that is not the problem or is it.
Yes, that can definitely cause latency issues. Just plug the USB mouse directly into a USB port and avoid adapters.
